214 WILSON’S JOURNEY IN NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA. [May 10, 1858. 
from their birth. This, I think, is the very best, if not the only, means by 
which we ever can redeem those beautiful tracts of land regarding which we 
have this night, and on so many previous occasions lately, had our interest 
excited, from their present forlorn and desolate state ; and if this succeeds 
as a first attempt, we may then have some hope of developing their resources, 
with advantage to Great Britain and her descendants, and to mankind at 
large. 
Mr. Trelawny Saunders. — The author of this paper has given us some in- 
teresting generalizations on the structure of North Australia. He finds the 
hills running parallel to the coast on the north-west, as they do on the eastern 
seabord. Flinders commenced the observation of this fact half a century 
since in reference to the Wessel Islands at the entrance of the Gulf of Carpen- 
taria. It was afterwards commented upon by Dr. Fitton in his appendix to 
King’s Australian Voyages. Leichhardt next found the range which he 
crossed near Port Essington pursuing the same direction ; and Wilson has 
now observed the same feature still farther south. 
Mr. Wilson adopts Captain Sturt’s views with regard to the interior. He 
also thinks that the range on the north-west of Spencer Gulf stretches across 
the continent to the elevated country on the North-West coast. So far as the 
climate of the interior is concerned, it seems to me that Captain Sturt’s 
journeys, and the appearance of the Western coast, confirm its similarity to the 
analogous region of Northern Africa. Like Northern Africa, Australia presents 
a broad extent of land intersected by one of the tropics, and exposed to the 
prolonged influence of the vertical sun during the solstice. Burnt up at one 
season of the year, it may be deluged at the other without retaining any source 
of water like the Nile or the Ganges, capable of resisting the intolerable heat 
and dryness so impressively described by Captain Sturt. 
With reference to the important question of establishing settlements on the 
North coast, I think we should follow the precedent set by Sir Stamford 
Raffles in the highly successful occupation of Singapore. 
If the Government would form a small establishment on the spot for the 
survey, allotment, and sale of land, and for the maintenance of civil authority, 
those people would find their way there, as they did at Singapore, who deemed 
themselves best fitted for such a country. The population of North Australia 
whenever it springs up will necessarily be Asiatic as well as European. The 
native traders of the Archipelago will there meet with European merchants 
and colonial cattle owners. No direct migration of European labourers is 
desirable. 
The failure of Port Essington arose from its having been regarded and 
governed as a purely military post. The Australian colonists who would have 
driven their cattle to that part of the country were expressly prohibited. The 
native traders of the Archipelago looked upon it as a stepping stone to some 
encroachments on the adjacent islands ; and the settlement was broken up as 
soon as its peaceable nature was perceived and traders began to frequent it. 
There can be no doubt that population and trade would speedily be attracted 
to North Australia if titles to land were procurable, and civil authority duly 
established. 
Mr. John Crawfurd, f.r.u.s. — I think it was stated that the highest land 
discovered is about 1600 feet, and that the distance of that land from the sea is 
about 300 miles. It is clear, then, that there can be no great river in a country of 
that description. No great rivers exist in any part of the world, and especially 
the tropical world, except where there are great ranges of mountains from 10,000 
to 12,000 feet high. No such mountains exist in any part of the Australian 
continent so far as we have been able to ascertain. It has been stated in the 
paper that there are 5,000,000 acres of good grass land ; that it is a peculiarly 
pastoral country. Now what is a pastoral country ? We usually understand by 
